New Nokia 3310 Won’t Be Coming To The U.S.

HMD Global, the Finnish company that’s making phones and slapping Nokia’s name on them, took us all on a walk down memory lane last week when it announced a successor to the original Nokia 3310 featurephone that came out over a decade ago. The new Nokia 3310 is still a featurephone but it has been updated a bit so that it’s more of a modern classic.

Many would just give into nostalgia and pick one up but if you intend to do that and you’re based in the United States, think again. The new Nokia 3310 won’t be coming to the United States immediately, at least not officially, because it simply won’t be able to work in the country. It uses technology that’s not supported by carriers in the U.S.

Gallery: Nokia 3310 (2017) Hands-On

The 900MHz frequency that the new Nokia 3310 relies on isn’t supported here. For example, if an AT&T customer wanted to use this phone, they wouldn’t be because it doesn’t work on the 850 and 1900 frequency that AT&T is on.

Patrick Mercanton, the global head of marketing for HMD Global, told CNET that this doesn’t mean the new Nokia 3310 is not going to be launched officially in the United States. “It’s that the US takes a little bit longer to ramp up,” he adds.

The company is talking to U.S. carriers about selling Nokia-branded smartphones like the 3310 in the country and it remains to be seen what sort of a reception it gets from them. So when in a couple of months you see this $50 handset on Amazon and eBay, think twice about buying it, because you’ll just be buying a paperweight.